


a taste that lingers even when everything else has melted away

by zarabithia



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Domesticity, F/M, Fluff, References to PTSD, Request Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-23
Updated: 2013-09-23
Packaged: 2017-12-27 11:09:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/978127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy knows Steve has issues with gluttony and wasting food. But she isn't going to pass up the chance to pick up some caramel apples.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a taste that lingers even when everything else has melted away

**Author's Note:**

> Title stolen from this [quote about caramel.](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/664336-i-think-love-is-caramel-sweet-and-fragant-always-welcome) Casual hints of Bucky being back and not being brainwashed, so set sometime in the future.

Darcy had taken approximately six college history courses, because it made perfectly good sense for a political science major to do so. Sometimes, when Darcy wasn’t taking internships that had absolutely nothing to do with her major, she did actually like to fulfill the major requirements, including those pesky allied courses in fields other than political science.

So she absolutely understood the ‘growing up in the Great Depression’ aspect of Steve’s life, and because she wasn’t Tony Stark, she tried to be sensitive about it. Sometimes she forgot, though, right up until the point where Steve walked into the kitchen and made that face at the sight of all that “wasted” flour.

Or all the wasted food that she didn’t really have the urge to take home with her after their nights on the town.

Or all the wasted pasta that she didn’t have to save anymore, because her days of Ramen were done.

Or all the wasted takeout that had gone in the trash, because who liked warmed up takeout, really?

Or … okay, to be fair, there were a lot of times in which Darcy forgot to be sensitive about the fact that Steve had as much PTSD from growing up as a starving child in the Great Depression as he did from the war.

But on that first official day of fall, when she stopped by the store to pick up a box of hot chocolate in order to celebrate the fact that she had passed her Handguns Efficiency training class, she did actually keep Steve’s issues with food in mind. Because somewhere between the hot cocoa aisle and the cash register, she stumbled upon a big display full of caramel apples.

Back home, Darcy’s grandmother used to make caramel apples from scratch, and Darcy used to claim the job of designated helper whose primary task was to roll the apple around in various toppings while the caramel was still hot enough to make them stick. And, of course, to casually pinch a few handfuls of chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut for herself, because waiting on those candy apples to finish “setting up” took forever.

There was nothing better than fresh made caramel apples. Unfortunately, before she had moved herself into Steve’s apartment (because, really, neither of them were getting married anytime soon, but the whole living across town from each other was just ridiculous at this point), she had given caramel apples her best shot.

The ability to make caramel apples was not a trait that Darcy had inherited, and being that she was currently thousands of miles away from home, the store bought kind were going to have to do. Somehow, Darcy didn’t think that S.H.I.E.L.D. would approve the whole “emergency vacation to secure some caramel apples.” S.H.I.E.L.D. was uncool that way, even if it was fun to try to imagine bribing Nick Fury with her grandmother’s caramel apples.

Since S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn’t going to grant her any personal days, that meant taking the apples home with her, and home was with Steve these days.

Caramel apples had been around for a lot longer than Steve Rogers, but the problem was that every reason that Darcy loved caramel apples, Steve was going to hate them. But Darcy could hardly be expected to pass by apples covered in caramel, drizzled in chocolate and peanut butter, and dipped liberally in nuts.

So, she completely considered Steve’s feelings about wasting food as she picked the four pack of caramel covered apples up and placed them in her cart.

She was certain that he was going to be horrified, and make that cranky face, but she was willing to take her chances.

Steve, of course, decided to do the complete opposite.

“Hey, are those caramel apples?” he asked, as she was removing items from bag and placing them on the counter. She didn’t question why he was home before she was; on the days that the aliens weren’t trying to invade, that sometimes happened.

“Yep,” she agreed. “So before you freak out - “

“Why would I freak out?” Steve asked, and he was giving her the kind of look he gave Stark, when Stark started in on the whole Grandpa Rogers kick, and that just wasn’t fair. “I always wanted to try one, but money being what it was …” he trailed off and shrugged.

“Yeah, being a sick kid in the Great Depression probably meant you had better things to buy than apples covered in sugar,” Darcy guessed.

“You could say that,” Steve agreed as he sat down at the counter. “When we were 12 and 16, I had a really bad time one winter, and Bucky offered to steal me one from Mister Thompkins’ store. ‘If you’re going to die, Steve, at least let me give you something better than cabbage soup as your last meal,’ I believe was his justification.”

“See, each scandalous story you tell me about the Adventures of Steve and Bucky, the more I end up liking Bucky.” Which was fortunate, since he’d moved in next door with Sharon and Sam.

It was a whole lot of attractive hanging out in the apartment next door, basically.

“I didn’t die, obviously.” Steve gave a small grin at that, and yeah, it was cute that he could joke about it, so Darcy didn’t point out how morbid it actually was. “And I managed to convince Bucky not to steal from Mister Thompkins. It was hard, though, because he had a whole row of caramel and candy apples taunting Bucky every morning.”

Darcy would bet a significant amount of money that James Barnes had in fact stolen his share of caramel apples, and just not told Steve about it.

“You didn’t manage to snag one on your trip to Coney Island?” She asked, sidestepping any perceived slight on Bucky’s character as she opened the package of caramel apples.

“Nah. We were still poor, with me starting art school. We managed enough to get two of Nathan’s hot dogs, but that was about it.”

“And you puked yours up,” Darcy said gleefully as she handed him an apple.

He gave her a reproachful look for the comment about puking, but he didn’t argue - because that story was one of Bucky’s favorites, so she had heard it approximately a dozen times in the past four months.

But then Steve bit into the apple, and he stopped looking even remotely irritated.

“Good stuff?” she teased.

“If I had known these were that good back then, I might have let Bucky steal one,” Steve admitted sheepishly. “… Don’t tell him I said that.”

“Maybe we should reward him with one of the remaining apples,” Darcy suggested. “You know, since he obviously had such a great plan and you thwarted it so cruelly.”

Steve looked down at the package and considered for a moment. “Maybe we’ll go back to the store later and buy another package for him to share with Sharon and Sam,” he offered instead.

That, Darcy thought as she bit into her apple, was a very fair compromise.


End file.
